Mehta also implied that with regards to future investments in the company, the company will be looking at including new external investors along with its existing ones in its next funding round
E-two wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy is expecting to generate operating profits by next year and is working towards expanding its business, for which it is looking for capital investments.
“The last quarter was the most successful in Ather’s history. Our sales grew roughly by about 2.5 times quarter on quarter…Our overall cost structure, assembly time, material cost, all came down and more importantly, we have finally achieved positive unit economics (positive gross margins),” said Ather Energy CEO and Co-founder Tarun Mehta.
A report by PTI said that the company is looking to use its ‘450 platform’ to spin more variants and also enter the mass market electric two-wheeler segment.
Mehta added, “The amount of work over the last one/one-and-half years and with sales growing now has finally gotten us to space where we have a positive gross margin for every vehicle sold.”
Talking about the company’s plan to raise more funds, Mehta said that while the company is looking at gross positive margins, it will be a while before it becomes profitable.
“We will raise more cash in the coming time,” Mehta added.
On the same note, Mehta also implied that with regards to future investments in the company, the company will be looking at including new external investors along with its existing ones in its next funding round.
“Today Ather has the most competitive cost structure in the entire (EV) industry and I believe over the course of the next one or two years, this will actually be the cheapest architecture and offering the highest performance. That’s what integration is going to give us as a company an advantage. As and when that happens, then we can respin the product across different price points, very comfortably,” Mehta said while talking about Ather’s plans to enter the mass segment.
Ather Energy had earlier raised USD 35 million in a funding round led by Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal’s investment of USD 23 million, while Hero MotoCorp had invested USD 12 million as a part of the Series D round.